There’s a lot to love about pie. It’s a wholesome dessert that -for most of us- is about comfort and tradition as much as it is about taste. There are endless variations and you can make it for just about any occasion… but mostly, it’s just plain good. Truth be told, there’s not a lot that stops us from wanting to make it every day, except maybe the crust. With the rolling and chilling and blind baking, pie crust can often seem like a hassle, when all you want is a quick and satisfying dessert. But the Crazy Crust Pie solves that problem.
Crazy Crust Pie has no pie dough involved at all. Rather, it’s a sort of hybrid between cake and pie, where a quick batter is made and poured into a pie dish, followed by the filling. As it bakes, the batter and filling naturally separate, so the batter around the edges bakes into a golden brown ‘crust.’
The batter for the ‘crazy crust’ is just a quick mixture of butter, egg, flour, sugar, milk, and baking powder. You pour that into a pie dish and then pour your favorite fruit filling into the center, making sure the filling doesn’t spread out too far. You want it at least an inch from the edges so that the crust has room to form. You can use cherry, apple, blueberry… any kind of fruit filling that your heart desires.
As it bakes, a nice cakey version of a crust forms around the edges, while your favorite filling becomes warm and aromatic and tender. A little bit like cake, but still very much like pie, Crazy Crust Pie satisfies that pie craving with only five minutes of effort on your part.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 can (21 oz) fruit pie filling (apple, cherry, peach, blueberry, blackberry, etc.)
Sugar, for dusting
PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 375°F and grease a 9-inch pie plate. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg and mix, and then flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add milk gradually, mixing until well combined.
Pour batter into prepared pie plate and pour pie filling into the center of batter. (Don’t let it spread out further than 1-inch from the edge.)
Sprinkle top evenly with sugar and bake until edges are browned and dough is set, 35-40 minutes.